diffraction

Diffraction is defined as a process by which light waves break up into dark and light bands or into the colors of the spectrum.

Light passing through a narrow opening in the blinds, causing bright and dark shadows and patterns to fall across the floor is an example of defraction.

diffraction

noun

the breaking up of a ray of light into dark and light bands or into the colors of the spectrum, caused by the interference of one part of a beam with another, as when the ray is deflected at the edge of an opaque object or passes through a narrow slit

diffraction

diffraction - Computer Definition

The process by which the propagation of radiant waveforms or light waves is modified as those waves encounter an obstacle or discontinuity, or exit one medium and enter another. Some of the waves deviate from their paths, i.e., bend, by diffraction. See also knife-edge diffraction, reflection, and refraction.

The bending of electromagnetic waves as they pass around corners or through holes smaller than the wavelengths of the waves themselves. See diffraction grating and refraction.

Sentence Examples

The determination of the motion in the aether, due to the action of a periodic force at a given point, is discussed in the article Diffraction Of Light (§ Ii).

Thus by equation (18) of § II of the article Diffraction Of Light, the secondary disturbance is expressed by D' - D n 2 Tsin sin (nt - kr) D 47rb2 r _ D' - D irTsin O sin (nt - kr) (3)1 The preceding investigation is based upon the assumption that in passing from one medium to another the rigidity of the aether does not change.

The actual calculation follows a similar course to that by which Huygens's conception of the resolution of a wave into components corresponding to the various parts of the wave-front is usually verified (see Diffraction Of Light).

Their absolute freedom from diffraction, the perfect control of the illumination and thickness of the lines, and the accuracy with which it will be possible to construct scales for zone observations will be important features of the new method.